[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Have you guys read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451? Basically, the main dude is a fireman that burns illegally held books and the homes of the people who own them. He starts to question his job and the world. Everyone in the book just sits around popping tranquilizers and watching TV with the state's message blaring. From what I recall of the book, you can't not accept the state's communication. You have to allow it into your home. These alerts slightly remind me of that.

I'm uneasy that government can so easily force us to receive a message. I want to opt out during certain hours. If I wake up in the night I can't go back to sleep. Yeah, TS for me and I know a lot of you don't care because a child's life is on the line, but there is a very low probability that I'll be able to help and maybe I'm an a-hole, but I should be able to opt out if I want to. I don't like that the government can wake me up to force me to receive a message 24/7. I'm not on call for the government or for any police agencies. When I put DND on, it's because I don't want to be disturbed. If you don't mind being disturbed, then you can feel free to whitelist these messages, but an abducted kid in Cold Lake doesn't register on my long list of things I need to be thinking about at 3:30 a.m. and I should be able to blacklist them.

I don't read these messages at night, anyway. I silence my phone and carry on with my sleep if I can get back to sleep.

I want my daughter who tends to be a little anxious to be able to opt out completely. She's 13 and doesn't need to be worrying about an abduction 100 miles away. She'll be afraid to walk home from school that day.

I see a lot of people in this thread more than willing to wake up at night, read government messages and take action if needed. Good for you (not even saying that sarcastically). I'm happy to do this 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That makes me a reasonably good citizen, I think. Those 8 hours I have DND on, though, I don't want the government to be able to wake me up with a message that is not nearly targeted enough. Once they can focus the alert, then yeah, hit me up if something is going down in my area. Please allow me to not be disturbed with your shotgun approach, though.

This is a very good post that has me questioning my full support of these alerts with no way to mute them.